How many words does HSK 3.0 require?

HSK 3.0 uses 5,400 words across six levels: 300 at level 1, 500 at level 2, 1,000 at level 3, 2,000 at level 4, 3,600 at level 5 and 5,400 at level 6.

The figures are cumulative. Level 2 adds roughly 200 new words to the level 1 list; level 3 adds about 500; level 4 adds 1,000; level 5 adds 1,600; level 6 adds 1,800.

That is 400 more words than HSK 2.0 overall. Most of the increase sits in the higher levels, so a level 1 or level 2 candidate sees a similar workload to the current exam.

Source: official HSK 3.0 sample papers and syllabus (chinesetest.cn) · how we verify · corrections